


Looped Nightmare

by ZoxiQ



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, Marvel Universe, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark/Stephen Strange Parenting Peter Parker | Supremefamily | Strange Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-17 12:08:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28724862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZoxiQ/pseuds/ZoxiQ
Summary: Tony has no idea why he woke up in a hospital bed. He also has no idea why the snap has just occurred. All he knows is, he's not crazy and he will get his family back.
Relationships: Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Kudos: 8





	Looped Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ElisaPhoenix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElisaPhoenix/gifts).



> This work is inspired by the amazing mama bear au created by the super talented @ElisaPhoenix. Go check out her collection of fics for more Mama bear Stephen Strange and Supreme family chaos!

Looped Nightmare

Tony woke up as he jolted up from his slumber, panting lightly. His forehead was damp with a cold sweat as he ran a hand down his face, trying to calm himself from the nightmare he had just woken up from. He grabbed his glasses on the table next to the bed, sliding them on as the iv tube hit his face. Tony batted the tube away before his chocolate eyes went wide at his surroundings.

"What the hell…" Tony questioned as he saw he was in the medical bay. " Friday, tell mama bear this is a little extreme for falling out of bed."

Friday was silent for once.

"Friday? Oh don't tell me he's still mad about the bath bomb… i said i was sorr…" Tony rambled as he tried to get out of bed, his legs failing him as he crumbled to the floor.

Steve had been passing by just asTony had collapsed to the floor, the super soldier rushing forward and helping the billionaire into a nearby wheelchair. Tony's face grew even more confused at his weakness. He had felt fine just last night when he had crawled into bed with Stephen. He hadn't felt like this since he was rescued from space after…

"You've been out for a week Tony." Steve stated softly.

"Where are the girls? Stephen? The boys? Is everyone ok?!" Tony asked hurriedly as he looked up at the super soldier.

"Cassie and Diana are fine… but I'm sorry Tony…" Steve sighed sadly as he walked behind the engineer, pushing the wheelchair. "Stephen, Harley, and Peter were…"

"Were what?! Where's Val? You forgot her! Were we attacked while i was asleep?!" Tony was letting the panic fill him completely at what he was hearing.

Then things started to click. Space, everyone missing… It was just like after the snap. Was everything he remembered just a dream during his comatose state?

No.

It couldn't be. This had to still be some sick dream he was stuck in. They defeated Thanos… he snapped again. The engineer was wheeled over to a table with the few remaining Avengers, the pictures of those lost to the snap projected up from the holotable.

Chocolate eyes widen when he sees Peter and Stephen's pictures flash across the screen. He grabbed what he thought was his damaged arm, his brows furrowing when there was no charred flesh under his touch.

Had him snapping all been a dream in his coma?

His eyes focused off into the distance as the other's talked in the background. Something was wrong. He could feel it in his gut and would try to prove it.

*****

Tony sat in the living room of the lake house, staring at the Starkpad in his hand. It was getting harder and harder to tell if what was happening around him was real. He got hungry and needed sleep, which meant it wasn't a dream. Maybe it was an alternate dimension? Or some spatial anomaly?

Either way, he knew he would get his family back.

Cassie watched from the kitchen where she was feeding Diana some baby food from a jar. The billionaire had her worried. Maybe he was still in shock from the snap? She knew that she hadn't quite gotten a grip on what had happened. At least she didn't have it as bad as Tony, who actually had both Stephen and Peter turn to dust in his arms.

She finished feeding Diana, wiping her face with a diaper wipe to remove any blueberries that had decided to stay on her cheeks before carrying her back to the living room. The child set the baby in the swing before climbing up onto the couch next to Tony.

"Uncle Tony? Can we watch cartoons?" Cassie asked softly, looking up at the distracted man.

"Huh? Oh yeah… FRI? Put on whatever Miss Sass wants." Tony muttered as he kept scrolling through the articles that littered the screen.

Each and every one of them was dated 2018, part of Tony wanting to believe that were true even though there was a much louder voice in his head yelling at him to wake up. Even his conscience sounded like his last husband. He rubs his eyes and sighs as he sets the device in the coffee table before him. Cassie pats his leg gently.

"It's ok Uncle Tony." Cassie said softly, the billionaire not missing the sorrow that laced her young voice. "I miss my daddy too."

Tony pulled Cassie into a hug, hoping to soothe the still grieving girl beside him. "Me too Cass… me...too.."

Tony's brain began whirling with ideas.

Scott.

Scott…

"SCOTT!" Tony hadn't realized he yelled the man's name as his hands darted for the Starkpad again.

Scott had solved the answer in how to get everyone back before. If Tony could find him again and bring him back, maybe then he could prove he wasn't crazy. Maybe he could get his family back.

Cassie turned her attention away from the cartoons on the television to watch Tony. She knew the last time she saw her father, he was helping Mr. Pym and Hope to collect some particles or something like that.

He was one of the victims of the snap.

"Uncle Tony… daddy is gone too." She muttered softly as she reached to pull his hand away from the Starkpad.

"Cassie. I promise I'm not crazy but… I've already been through this before. " Tony explained. "Your dad wasn't snapped. He's trapped in the quantum realm and if I can find him, then he can help get everyone else ba…"

The man turned and saw the tears filling large hazel eyes just before Cassie got up. The child ran to her room and shut her door behind her. Tony sighs softly as he holds his head in his hands, looking over at his baby daughter in her swing.

"I promise daddy isn't crazy." The billionaire mutters to her as he moves to put her pacifier back into her mouth. "Maybe I should let time take its course. I know Stephen would say it's wrong to mess with a time stream."

He could wait. He had done it before and he could do it again. Tony knew exactly how to fix this, but he needed everything to happen in the exact order as it did last time.

That night, Tony lied awake in his bed as he stared at the ceiling with his tired chocolate eyes. He thought it was hard to sleep when Stephen was dimension hopping, but now it was nearly impossible. The billionaire sighed as he rolled over onto his side and stared at the spot where his husband would have been, his heart aching as his fingers reached over and clutched the sheets.

"I'll get you back _tesoro_." Tony promised softly. "You and our whole family."

After a few more hours of tossing and turning, the billionaire finally fell asleep. If only it were a peaceful sleep. Tony was caught in a dream.

_Tony looked around the sandy terrain littered with the ruins of the alien civilization that used to occupy Titan. He slowly stood from where he had been seated in the sand, his hand instinctively reaching to tap the nanotech housing unit. Two weights shot out and attached themselves to his wrist, drawing Tony's immediate attention to what was attacking him._

_He couldn't believe his eyes._

_Stephen and Peter were hanging on his wrists, their fingers clawing at his sleeves. Tony couldn't take his eyes off of the betrayed expression they had on their face._

_"You failed." Stephen's voice rang out as he suddenly vanished._

_"I...I tried… i…" Tony stuttered as he saw Peter vanish as well._

_"You didn't try hard enough." Peter's voice bit out as wind began to whip around Tony._

_He tried to push on through the brewing sandstorm. He had to get to his family._

_"I tried everything!" Tony shouted over the howling wind._

_"You can't… we had one chance… and you ruined it." Stephen's voice hissed in his hair. "You let us die."_

_"NO! I DIDN'T!" The billionaire exclaims._

_"I told you to run. We would have been safe on earth." The ghostly form of Stephen and Peter appear before Tony. "If you had listened to us instead of your ego,our family would be whole. We wouldn't have turned to dust!"_

_Tony fell to his knees as tears welled up in his eyes, his hands trembling as he gripped the sand beneath him. He had tried everything to save his family that day. After having Thanos in his head since the Chitauri invasion, he thought the only way to stop Thanos was to take the battle to him. He wished he could undo everything from that dreadful day._

_"...ony...Tony…" Stephen's voice called softly._

_Tony went to answer the gentle voice, but he couldn't as a sudden pain coursed through his chest. He cried out in pain as he fell to the sand, clutching his chest. He tried to breathe, to catch his breath but another pain coursed through his chest. It was like he was being electrocuted by invisible lightning._

_"Tony! Wake up!" Stephen's voice cried out as the ghostly versions of him and Peter faded. "Tony!!"_

Tony jolted awake with a startled gasp, clutching his chest as he panted heavily. His hair was drenched from sweat as he pushed it away from his forehead.

What the actual hell was that?

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed, please leave a kudos and a comment.


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